Sleep Therapy
by In Darkness Is Light
Summary: Kai has insomnia. Hilary tries to find a cure. [KaiHilary]


_AN: Hey guys, here's another Kai/Hilary fic I've been working on! Hope you like it:)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but this story!**

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Kai sat on the small porch of Tyson's home, looking at the koi pond, and the moon's reflection in it. His vision was slightly blurred and dark bags were beginning to form around his eyes. For what seemed like the umpteenth time that night, he let out a long sigh.

Looking over his shoulder at the small opening in the door to the dojo, he saw the sleeping faces of his teammates, and for the first time, actually felt envious. He wished he could be sleeping too, but his insomnia had recently worsened, causing him to be tired, yet unable to sleep.

Not being able to rest was possibly the worst form of human torture in Kai's mind. He was so fatigued from this week's training, and he still hadn't gotten much rest. By estimation, he figured he had slept about 7 hours during the whole week, which added to about 1 hour a night.

His vision blurred more, the light from the moon now only a faint shimmer, and he let out a long yawn, not caring about how it made him look. His teammates were, after all, sleeping, he thought angrily. He looked down at the watch on his bare arm (armguards were inside) and saw it read 3:00AM. The green glow from the wristwatch seemed to be taunting him, laughing at his problems.

'Oh man,' he thought, 'you know you haven't gotten enough sleep when you think a wristwatch is laughing at you.'

Finally, 2 hours later, at 5AM, he gave a small smile of delight at the familiar feeling of sleep taking over. Shuffling his feet slowly, he made his way back into the dojo and climbed into the sleeping bag, hoping that this time, he'd get to rest more.

Kai's POV

I woke up at 7 the same morning, thankful that I had gotten at least 2 hours of sleep, which was more than most nights.

I opened the door slowly, careful not to wake the others, though I doubt anything would. They were so deep in sleep; I doubt they'd wake up if a bomb were set off. I felt a little angry towards them, but it was just irritability forming from lack of sleep.

When I got to the front of the house, I saw 'Grandpa' practicing kendo. He greeted me enthusiastically and asked if I wanted breakfast. Being too tired, I just gave a small nod as a response. I was thankful he understood that I wasn't much of a talker and never asked me about it. It was much more convenient and it took much less of my energy to just nod than to speak.

He had boiled eggs this morning, and we ate them with toast. During breakfast, he lectured me on the nutritional benefits of eggs, and though I nodded periodically, I had tuned him out. The only time I showed any slight form of emotion was when he asked me if I wanted coffee.

Yeah, I knew it was bad for me and would make my tension rise, but it would also keep me awake. The only reason 'Grandpa' even had coffee at his house-because he claimed he'd never drink the stuff- was because of me. I had said that I drank coffee, and therefore, he had bought it and kept it there.

Whatever, this is getting too descriptive and thinking takes up a lot of energy. I just nodded, somewhat enthusiastically, signaling that I did in fact want coffee. While the old man was making it in a pot, I felt a familiar feeling wash over me, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

Half an hour later, I woke up, to the sound of Grandpa Granger's voice. "Yo dude, coffee's getting cold! Now, hurry up and drink! You gotta go wake up the rest of your peeps!"

I gave a half-hearted sigh and just nodded. Why couldn't that man use proper English, like every other sane person on this planet? Didn't he know how my brain hated to try and decipher those words that came out of his mouth? I quickly downed my coffee and saw the clock in the kitchen read 8AM.

'Shit, if I stay any longer, they're going to wake up on their own!'

Before waking them, I opted to go to the bathroom, just to make sure I wasn't looking anything less than presentable. Not that I cared what they thought, but I didn't want them to see the bags under my eyes.

I got to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and thanked god that I had chosen to go to the bathroom first. My eyes were all red and bloodshot, and dark bags were under my eyes. I took some of my skin colored face paint (what?! I got to put a base coat on! Do you paint a room without using primer first? NO! Plus, this stuff makes it so that my skin doesn't itch from the blue paint) and applied it under my eyes and on my cheeks. Then I took the blue face paint and started to make perfect blue triangles on my cheeks.

When I was finally satisfied, I walked back out, ready to go wake up the rest of my team.

_Normal POV_

Kai slid open the door, and the still sleeping faces of his teammates came into view. He was already irritated from the lack of sleep he'd gotten this week, and was prepared to use any methods necessary to wake them up.

At first he decided to be nice; "Wake up," he told them in a harsh but moderately loud voice. No response or reaction was given. He tried again, "It's time to get up!" he told them, raising his voice. Still no reaction from the sleeping bodies.

Finally, he got fed up and did what he thought would relieve his irritability as well as wake them up; he kneeled down beside each of their beds and slapped the floor with his palm while yelling, "I SAID WAKE UP!" The first time, everyone seemed to be getting up groggily, but fell back asleep. He did it once more, and then again, and again, until he had done it beside everyone's sleeping bag, waking them up by giving each of them a heart attack.

"What the hell was that for Kai!?" Tyson asked angrily.

"Hn, breakfast's ready," Kai replied, before walking out of the room.

The rest of the bladebreakers got up, and immediately there was a fight for the washroom. Hilary, being a girl, was allowed to go first, and the boys all had to wait while she got ready. 20 minutes later, when everyone had gone to the washroom, they ate breakfast in the kitchen. Of course, the day started out as usual; Max and Tyson fought for the maple syrup to put on their pancakes, while Hilary and Ray ate silently, secretly shooting the two boisterous boys glares every few minutes. Eventually, Ray would start to laugh at their antics, and then volunteer to do the dishes before training. Minutes after that Kenny would show up, and the team would start training. Well, today, Kai stayed behind with Hilary and waited for Ray to finish washing the dishes.

He didn't actually care enough to be so polite as to wait for Ray, but he was too tired to move, and needed a few moments to regain some energy. Besides, he was the great Kai Hiwatari; no one could question what he did. No one except for the two people he was still around.

While Ray went back to the table to collect the remainder of the dirty dishes, he noticed Kai sitting at the table, head buried in his arms, and looked at the boy with mild concern. "Hey Kai, are you alright?"

Kai lifted his head a bit and mumbled, "I'm fine."

"You sure?" Ray persisted.

Kai lifted his head to be able to look Ray straight in the eyes, and giving him a glare told him, "Yes, now screw off."

Ray gave a mildly annoyed look and raised his hands in defeat. Hey, if Kai didn't want to admit he wasn't fine, even though it was so obvious, you definitely wouldn't get another answer. Finishing up the dishes, Ray walked outside, and Kai got up to follow him, when Hilary stopped him.

"Kai?"

"Hn."

"Can I talk to you? In private?" she asked him.

He looked down at her; a little surprised, but nodded affirmatively and followed her to one of the rooms. Shutting the door behind them, he turned around and looked at her quizzically, wondering what the heck she needed to talk to him about; it wasn't exactly like he was Mr. Popularity.

Hilary twiddled with her thumbs and attempted to start talking, obviously feeling nervous under Kai's penetrating glare. "Well, you see-" "um…what I mean to say is…" She stuttered for a few minutes before scolding herself mentally. 'You're a tough girl, Hilary Tatibana, Kai Hiwatari shouldn't feel like he can intimidate you with just one look. Yeah, it's time to tell him!'

"Look, Kai, I've noticed that you haven't been getting much sleep lately," she began, pausing to look up at his face, only to see an emotionless gaze, "and I know you'll never admit anything that would show even a bit of weakness to anyone, you're too proud to do that, but you don't have to admit anything. I think you have insomnia Kai."

Now, even though Kai still remained calm and his face remained expressionless, inside he was breathing a sigh of relief. Hilary didn't usually just state that you had the problem for the heck of it; if she noticed and told you she noticed, she probably had an answer. And while Kai would never admit it willingly, or even under torture, he'd try anything to get rid of his insomnia. Sure enough, a few moments later, Hilary began speaking again.

"Well, do you?" she asked, a bit impatiently.

"Hn," Kai said, once again in an affirmative tone.

"That's ok, I won't tell anyone, don't worry! I've got a couple of books at home that have remedies for this stuff, if you want."

Again, all he said was an affirmative, "hn"

She smiled up at him, glad that he wasn't TOO proud to accept help, and opened the door. She was just about to walk out, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw that the hand belonged to Kai, and at this display of what she presumed to be gratitude; she looked at him, a bit puzzled. "Kai?" she asked.

He looked down; as if he seemed almost too ashamed of what he was about to say. "Thanks," the word finally came out, and Hilary's smile widened, and she replied, "No problem, I'm going to go to my house and be back around lunch with those remedy books. Maybe you want to give everyone a day off and send them out, so that they don't question you."

He nodded, and she flashed him another smile before leaving for her house. "I'll be back in a couple of hours! I've got an errand to run!" Hilary announced to the other Bladebreakers, who were outside training. They nodded and she heard a chorus of, "See you Hilary!"' as she made her way out of the gate in front of the dojo.

True to her word, Hilary showed up at the dojo a couple of hours later, books in tow. She let herself in, seeing as the door wasn't usually locked anyway, and headed for the room where they slept, where, as she suspected, she found Kai waiting. The books in her giant knapsack seemed to be keeping her from opening the door fully, and she had to wait for Kai to get up and open it for her. As if that wasn't enough of draining his energy, as soon as she got in, the weight of the books made her lose balance, and she fell on top of him.

He winced inwardly, not having enough energy to show the emotion of pain on his face, but he was definitely going to get a bruise on his arm where she'd hit him with the edge of a book. "I'm so sorry Kai!" Hilary apologized, and quickly raised herself off the poor boy. He may have been tough, but he was quite thin and she was almost afraid she'd broken one of his bones or something. After giving him a once over to make sure she hadn't done him any permanent damage, she set down her knapsack and started pulling out books.

They both looked through them, and after 30 minutes of searching, Hilary had thought that she found something worth sharing. "Hey, look here Kai! They say there's a remedy you can drink, and it works on moderate to extreme cases of insomnia! We just need to get some of these plants and I can make the drink for you! But we're going to need to go to the grocery store"

He nodded and after a few minutes, they were ready to leave.

When they got to the supermarket, Kai trailed behind, hands in his pockets, while Hilary went ahead to get the stuff they needed. A few strange plant names and an hour later, they were back at the dojo with their needed ingredients.

They saw that none of the Bladebreakers had returned, and Hilary told Kai to go rest a bit while she went to the kitchen and prepared the miracle cure drink. In no mood to argue, Kai went obediently to the room where they slept and laid down on his sleeping bag.

A little while later Hilary entered, drink in tow. She handed the glass to Kai who made a face at the contents; a thick puke green colored froth filled half the glass, and if he hadn't known better, he'd have said that Hilary was trying to poison him. He stared at the glass for a few more moments, eyeing it warily, before Hilary finally started to get annoyed. "Oh come on Kai, drink up! I'm sure it doesn't taste as bad as it looks!"

Seeing that this hadn't convinced him, she added, "What? Is the great Kai Hiwatari scared of a glass of plants?" Just as she'd suspected, he shot her a glare before downing the drink as quickly as possible. He made a face of disgust, but on the inside was hoping that soon the drink would work its magic and he'd be fast asleep. Hilary too was anxious to see if the drink was working and she stared at Kai intently, almost as if she believed that if she stared hard enough, she could hypnotize him into being asleep or something.

For what seemed like hours, they stayed like that, both looking at each other, before Kai heaved a defeated sigh. Hilary's face immediately dropped and seemed to sadden, "Sorry Kai, I guess it didn't work," she said.

"Yeah," he replied in his usual tone of voice, "I guess it didn't."

Suddenly, Hilary's face brightened again. "This may not have worked, but I'm sure there are some other stuff that would!"

A bit skeptical, Kai nodded nevertheless and gave his consent to try another method. They got back to searching through books and magazines, and this time it was Kai who suspected he'd found the right cure. "Look at this, it looks good enough, right?"

Hilary took the book from his hands and read over what he was looking at. It was an article on Acupressure and how it helped people cure insomnia. She read over what people said and their cases seemed to be similar with Kai's, so it was worth a shot, but she wasn't entirely convinced that he really wanted to do it. As though he read her mind, he said, "Yeah, I'm not 100 sure I want to do it either, but seriously, at this point, I'll try anything."

She gave a shrug and told him to lie down. Basically, what acupressure was, was putting finger pressure on the same body points as for acupuncture, which should have helped stimulate the production of certain chemicals that apparently help you sleep. When he was finally lying down, completely embarrassed but desperate enough to try, she kneeled over him and began to apply pressure to his lower back with her fingertips. As she continued, she thanked god that Kai couldn't see her face, because it was probably beet red from being so close to him.

Every time she put her fingertips and pressed on his back, she sensed him tense. Knowing that the acupressure wasn't going to work if she was tense, she began to become increasingly irritated. Finally, after the umpteenth time she'd sensed his muscles tighten, she yelled, "You know, this isn't going to work if you keep tensing like this!" She pressed harder for emphasis. The point seemed to have gotten across, for Kai stayed down and relaxed. A few times she stopped to look at the book and see where she needed to apply the pressure, but after roughly 15 minutes she was finished.

Again, they stared intently at each other, Hilary biting her bottom lip out of anxiousness. Kai had already told her that if this didn't work, that she should just take her books back home and forget about it. Time confirmed her suspicions about it not working were correct, and so she left with all her books to her house.

As she walked, Hilary realized just how disappointed Kai must have been, though he hadn't shown it, and that made her feel even more depressed about the whole thing. Taking the keys out of her pocket, she unlocked the front door and made her way upstairs, where she proceeded to place the bag of books down on her bed. Her mother called her down to dinner soon after, and she ate in silence. When it was time to go back to Tyson's place, she notified her mother that she'd be sleeping over there for the 3rd night that week, and her mother agreed with a smile.

Hilary walked out into the street with her head up, looking at all the beautiful colors in the sky, made by the setting sun, and realized that soon it would be night. 'Night,' she thought, 'time to go to sleep. We'll all be able to…except for Kai.' Ever since she'd left the dojo, she'd been feeling very guilty about not being able to help Kai cure his insomnia. She knew how much it sucked to not be able to sleep, and she wouldn't wish the feeling on anyone. While walking deep in thought about Kai and his insomnia, she hardly registered that she'd knocked into someone until she found herself having a meeting with the cold concrete below her.

"Hilary!" the voice of the person with whom she'd collided called.

"Huh?" She asked, a bit dazed, and looked up to meet the worried face of Ray Kon.

"Are you ok?" he asked her, extending a hand to help her up.

"Yeah, I am fine Ray. Sorry for bumping into you, I was just thinking a lot."

"Want to talk about it?" he offered.

She nodded, and they continued walking, side by side.

"Well, you know how Kai's been acting a little funny lately?"

Ray nodded to show that he'd noticed it too.

"Well," Hilary continued, "it's cause he has insomnia and hasn't been getting much sleep."

"Yeah, I've known for a few days now," Ray told her.

"Anyway, so I told him that I knew about it, and that I had some books to help. I went over to my house to get them and then I came back to try some methods."

"So that's why Kai let us skip training today?"

Hilary gave a nod, "Yeah, that's why. But now, I feel so incredibly guilty because I got his hopes up and NOTHING ended up working!" Finishing, she heaved a sigh and her lips formed into a small frown.

Ray didn't like seeing her like this, she was his friend and he knew she was just feeling an exaggerated effect of guilt because she secretly harbored a crush for the insomniac. He began to smile a little as a plan hatched into mind; one that could cure Kai's insomnia and get Hilary to admit her feelings. "Hey Hilary, I have an idea that would work, but you're probably not going to like it."

"Really, what is it?" she asked, desperation lightly hinted in her tone of voice.

"Well, the elders used to do this back at the village to cure the most severe of cases. It's said that insomnia is cured when the insomniac has a warm body beside them."

"So…what are you saying?" Hilary asked, already knowing but fearing she was correct.

"You're a smart girl, you figure it out," he said with a hint of a smirk.

"I have to sleep with him?" Hilary asked, already predicting what Ray's response would be.

As he turned towards her, the small smirk still plastered on his porcelain face, she stared back at him with a mix of fear and amusement in her eyes. "Nu-uh Ray! No way in hell! I said I wanted to help the guy, not kill myself!"

"Well, you would be helping him, that's the thing! If this works, he'll thank you forever and ever, well, he will in his head."

"Ok, yeah, if it works…but there's no guarantee for that! And plus, he'd never agree to this, and I won't either because it's just plain crazy! I think he'd rather undergo severe torture for hours before trying something as crazy as this!"

"Oh cmon Hilary, this is simple logic. You like him, he's agreed to your help, you have a perfect shot now! And don't tell me you don't like him!" He said, when he saw her about to open her mouth in disagreement.

"Ray, if the situation wasn't so serious, I'd be laughing at how out of character you're acting! I've never known you to be the devious type!"

Ray took what she said into account and frowned, "Hey, that's not really fair…if Kai can be nice, why can't I be devious?"

"You got me there, but I'm still not going to sleep with him. I mean, for me it wouldn't be that bad-and get that stupid grin off your face, you look like an idiot-" she added at the sight of his increasingly wide smile.

"And I mean it would only be for one night…but he'd never agree with it, obviously. And I'd probably die of embarrassment!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"No," she sighed.

"Well then," Ray chirped happily, "it wouldn't hurt to try now would it?"

"I guess not…" Hilary replied uncertainly.

"Great! You can ask him when we get home which would be right about NOW!"

"Huh?" Hilary asked.

She had forgotten that throughout the conversation they had been walking towards the dojo, and now they were in front of its gates. A couple of hours had passed since Hilary had left, and now she was met face to face with Kai, who was staring at her with questioning eyes.

"Where have you been?" he asked, "It shouldn't have taken this long to come back."

Slightly intimidated by his hard gaze, she replied, "Oh, I met up with Ray on the way back and yeah, we took a detour through the park." Seeing that this answer hadn't entirely satisfied him she added, "Sorry if we made you worry."

As if she had said some terrible insult, he glared at her and turned his head away, replying with a harsh "Hn."

"Oh Kai," Ray piped in, "I think Hilary has something that she wants to ask you," he gave a wink to Hilary and then ran off inside, leaving the two standing there alone.

"So, what did you want?" Kai asked.

"Uh, oh, nothing. Well, actually…Ray told me about this cure for insomnia," she paused to see if it had peaked his interest and to her surprise, she sensed almost a hint of desperation in his gray orbs.

"But…I don't know if you'll like it much…"

He sighed. 'Of course it couldn't be something easy,' he thought. "Why, what is it?"

"Well, insomnia is usually cured when the insomniac has a warm body beside them…"

"You want me to sleep with Ray? Sorry but, no."

"No, of course I don't want you to sleep with Ray!"

"…Then who or what am I supposed to sleep with?"

She looked up at him meekly, inwardly flinching at his harsh and impatient tone of voice. "…Me," she told him.

Kai's eyes widened momentarily in shock, then returned to their normal size. His voice held a hint of indifference, but replied in a negative manner, "Uh, thanks…but no thanks."

Inside, Hilary breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a pang of disappointment. Hey, wouldn't you if you had had the chance to sleep with Kai Hiwatari?

She nodded to show that she'd acknowledged his answer and was fine with it, and then headed inside to see the other Bladebreakers.

The rest of the evening passed without much incident, minus Tyson and Max engaging in a fight for the last plate of spaghetti, which resulted in it being splattered all over Ray's head and the kitchen table.

The poor neko-jin had cleaned up the kitchen with the help of Hilary and then had hurried off to the bathroom to clean himself up. Hilary had then proceeded to scold Tyson and Max, before she too, went off to the other washroom in the house to take a shower.

That had been at 7; it was now 9pm and time for everyone to go to sleep. Everyone got into his or her sleeping bags, except for Kai. Max had asked him why he wasn't going to sleep, and Hilary hadn't missed that uncomfortable look in his eyes when he'd replied that he was going to stay up and read. Obviously oblivious, Max shrugged at the answer, and turned off the main lights. It hadn't even occurred to him that Kai would not have been able to read if the lights were off.

Hilary had stayed awake for the first 30 minutes or so, looking at Kai's sleeping bag, trying to see if maybe her methods of the day had taken their effect on him at a later time, but all she saw was his head propped up on his hands. Eventually, sleep beckoned her to shut her eyes, and she'd done so obediently. She fell into a semi-deep sleep, and was awakened only when she heard the sound of the door sliding open. It took her a few moments to focus her eyes, but she'd known immediately who was up and why.

'Kai…' She again got the deep feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach, and was highly tempted to stay up the whole night with him.

It was hard for her to try to help now. Everything she'd tried had failed, and the only option they really had left was to try Ray's idea. If it got him to sleep, she'd be willing to do almost anything. Deciding to get up herself, she climbed out of her sleeping bag and made her way outside to where he was sitting by the small pond in Tyson's backyard.

"Hey Kai," she said as she sat beside the restless boy.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, his voice giving away just how tired he was.

"I…uh, needed a drink."

"Hn," came the response.

"Want to get one with me?"

Kai didn't answer but his getting up was enough of a response. Together they walked in tired silence to the kitchen where Hilary poured herself some orange juice.

"Do you want anything Kai?" she whispered, trying not to wake anyone else up.

Again, he said nothing, just got up and headed over to the counter where he picked up the last bottle of water and began to drink.

"You know Kai, you look awfully tired," Hilary stated.

Not having enough energy to convey his thoughts into words, he gave a look that clearly said, "Thank you for stating the obvious."

"Uh, yeah, that didn't come out right. Whatever, what I meant to say was that the offer's still open for Ray's idea of treatment, if you want…"

He heaved a small but heavy sigh, and after a few moments replied, "So tired…"

"Alright, that's it. I'm going to try the method, you're obviously too weak to resist."

His eyes widened a bit in shock at what she'd said and in his mind, he was secretly wondering if she was just trying to find a way to sleep with him, but logically concluded that she was not that insane. He kept drinking water until Hilary began to pull him in the direction of the guest room.

'At least the others won't see me…' he thought.

She pulled him into the room, and practically threw him on the bed. Sprawled uncomfortably across the sheets, he looked up at her in amazement and fear. How the heck was she this strong? It took a lot of effort to drag Kai Hiwatari to a bedroom, let alone throw him on a bed!

She went over to the other side of the bed and rolled her eyes at the amazed/scared look that Kai was giving her.

"Move over and relax," she commanded.

Now normally Kai didn't take orders from anyone but that tired yet murderous look in her eyes, combined with the sheer strength he'd witnessed told him it would be foolish to disobey. He moved more over to the left, and let her get in.

The familiar feeling of sleep was coming over him, and she'd barely gotten settled near him before he fell asleep. In the morning, Kai woke up feeling comfortable and warm, but a bit alarmed that he didn't recognize the room he was in.

Events from the previous night came into his memory, and just to confirm his suspicions, he looked to his right and saw Hilary still sleeping. She had been next to him, their heads almost touching, but he found, to his relief, that she hadn't snuggled to his chest or anything.

'So she was just trying to help…' he concluded.

At this thought, he gave a small smile at not only the fact that she'd even thought of helping him, but at her sheer determination to help, even though it was mainly formed out of stubbornness. He felt touched and looked at her admiringly, for she was the one girl who could ever do something like this.

He felt her stir, and didn't want her to wake up to him staring at her, for that would surely be embarrassing for him, so he pretended to go back to sleep.

Hilary had opened her eyes momentarily, but when she saw that Kai was still asleep, she lay her head back down on the pillow and fell back asleep.

Both teens were glad about the rest they'd had that night, and had figured that maybe Ray's method hadn't been as weird as it originally seemed.

A few minutes after they fell back asleep, the door to the guest room was slid open a crack, and the golden eyes of Ray Kon could be seen. He looked at the two sleeping comfortably, and was hit with a little pang of guilt.

'Should I tell them I put sleeping pills in Kai's water?' he questioned himself, unsure of what he would do about their predicament. Then he thought of how well Hilary and Kai seemed to get along, and to him, it seemed such a shame to ruin something like that.

"Nah," his mind concluded, "what they don't know won't hurt them," and with that, he slid the door shut.

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_AN: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to review! ;)_


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